You'd probably have to go back to 1997 to find a draft like this one. That's the year Peyton Manning eschewed the prospect of going to the Jets first overall to play for Bill Parcells and returned for his senior year at Tennessee. One quarterback (shaky Jim Druckenmiller, 26th) picked in round one. Two backs (Warrick Dunn 12th and Antowain Smith 23rd) in round one, and four receivers in the first: Ike Hilliard seventh, Yatil Green 15th, Reidel Anthony 16th and Rae Carruth 27th. Yikes! What a horrible draft for point-producers. One star, Dunn, out of seven first-rounders.

That could repeat this year. It's likely Alabama's Eddie Lacy will be the only running back taken in round one. Tennessee's Cordarrelle Patterson leads the muddled pack at wide receiver, but how sure can you really be of junior-college transfers who play one year of major-college football, which is Patterson's profile?

The quarterbacks are a total mish-mosh at this point. One GM interested in acquiring a quarterback this offseason told me over the weekend, "I expect more attention on the quarterbacks throwing this year than on any other single thing at the Combine.'' Some think Geno Smith of West Virginia will go first overall to quarterback-needy Kansas City; one personnel man who studied all the top quarterbacks for a team in need of one last fall told me, "There's not one quarterback, including Smith, I would take in the first round."

Two points about that. If you need a quarterback, you can talk brave in February, but when reality sets in around draft day, and you haven't picked up a quarterback in free agency, all of a sudden the zits on Smith, Matt Barkley and other others don't seem as bad. And we're nine and a half weeks from round one. There's no way that Andy Reid and John Dorsey, the coach and GM for Kansas City, know what they're doing now. They need time to investigate and to watch tape on the eight or 10 quarterbacks.

But in some ways, 2013 should be a catchup year for the other positions. Opening day 2013 could feature 12 starting quarterbacks drafted in 2011 and '12; that's far, far above the norm in a game that values veteran arms at the position.

Now for a couple of notes about players at the Combine.

Alec Ogletree. The underclass inside linebacker from Georgia would be a clear top-10 pick with a clean resume. But he was suspended the first four games of last season for failing an offseason drug test, and then came the news Saturday night, via ProFootballTalk.com, that Ogletree recently was pinched for driving while intoxicated.

Ogletree and agent Pat Dye were smart to come out and beat the police blotter to the punch. As for the damage done by the arrest, Ogletree, who is a speed demon for an inside player, the kind of player who, if right, would be a perfect fit as a rare three-down inside linebacker for any team, has to convince teams they shouldn't be worried about a player who has tested positive, been suspended, and gotten a DWI in the span of about nine months.

Some GM is going to stake his reputation on Ogletree in the first round, most likely. Which GM? It would have to be a secure one. Green Bay's Ted Thompson or de facto GM Bill Belichick of the Patriots or Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome, all down near the bottom of the round.

Manti Te'o. The Notre Dame linebacker has spent a lot of time practicing football and practicing what he's going to say to teams. His last game, against Alabama, was a nightmare (he was awful, and overpowered), and then the whole fake girlfriend story came up, making him a national story and, in some quarters, a national joke. It won't matter much how he works out in Indianapolis. What will matter are the 15-minute interviews he'll have in formal evening sessions with teams, and in less formal settings, seeing coaches and personnel people at the stadium and around his hotel.

No men have more on the line, off the field, at the Scouting Combine than Ogletree and Te'o.

Finally, three players I'll be watching at the Combine, three with question marks and debatable upsides:

1. Quarterback Sean Renfree, Duke. No one's talking about him, but he completed 70 percent of his throws in six of 12 games for David Cutcliffe last fall, was a comeback specialist, and has the pedigree in a good pro-style offense to play early. Could he be more than a late-round flyer, this year's Ryan Lindley? We'll see.

2. Cornerback Xavier Rhodes, Florida State. A 6-2 cornerback in a league demanding cover guys who can play on islands more and more? Scouts want to see if Rhodes, who is a heady player with good bump skills at the line of scrimmage, has the speed to stay with fast wideouts. If so, he'll be a top-half-of-the-first-round player.

3. Running back Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina. After his devastating dislocated knee and torn knee ligaments in October, Lattimore, considered a certain first-rounder before the injury, is still in recovery mode. His surgeon, James Andrews, told Lattimore recently that he's going to shock the world. "I hear he's working out great,'' said Mayock. Lattimore believes he'll be healthy enough to start the 2013 NFL season. Is he's a fourth-round minefield pick? Or might some team desperate for a back go for him a round earlier -- or even late in the second round?

According to what some of the Eagles' fans posted here, Andy DIDN'T draft Foles. In fact, he didn't draft ANYBODY the last couple of years.

That's why Reid is in KC and Howie Roseman is still in Philly. Roseman wrested control of personnel from Reid a couple of years ago with the backing of Jeff Lurie and Lurie has been tickled pink with the last couple of drafts.

There's EVERY reason to believe that Roseman was the reason they drafted Foles. It's entirely possible Reid doesn't like him at all.

Yeah...we've only heard from the Chiefs about not picking a QB #1.

And somehow that's kind of grown to also mean they're trading for Foles, just because of media speculation.

Unless I missed something there's been nothing about the Chiefs wanting Foles.

__________________My name is Clay. I am a clueless moron when it comes to evaluating football talent. I thought that Pat Mahomes was unworthy of being drafted in the first round, also, I wanted Geno Smith first overall. I also claimed that tyreek hill was undeserving of even being in the CFL. I am wrong 20x more than I'm right and I will troll this site with my uneducated football takes.

Unless I missed something there's been nothing about the Chiefs wanting Foles.

You haven't missed anything.

In fact, you haven't missed anything on the Alex Smith front either. Outside of Trent Dilfer's "my friend Alex Smith would be a good fit in KC because Andy Reid likes him" crap, there isn't an OUNCE of substance to those rumors.

Its about compromise, not previous knowledge. Im sick of compromising. All this franchise DOES is compromise. It's time to stop taking it in the ass, and start GIVING IT. No more ****ing excuses.Posted via Mobile Device

I want the next Len Dawson, once and for all. I am also tired of compromising. But taking a QB at 1 who may be a late 1st rounder in value is a compromise too. Is Geno worthy of the top pick. I'm hoping the combine and the interviews will bring that into focus.

Except that it's not.
Foles is a 24 year old kid, who started and played well in college, who has a good arm and played pretty well on a shit team with little help as a rookie.

Cassel never played a down of college football, has a weak arm and took what had been an 18-1 team the previous season to a 10-6 record (with the scheduling gods playing the Pats against what was a horrible NFC West).

You cannot compare him to Cassel, they're nothing alike in any way, shape, form, experience level, background, physical attribute, or potential. They are literally two white guys who play QB and the similarity ends there.

The situation would be more like when GB traded a #2 for Brett Favre back in like '91 or '92 or whatever. If Reid thinks Foles is better than any of the possible draftees I'm good with it. I'd still like a high-ish pick to hedge the bet, though, and I like Nassib as a guy you could groom and hedge the bet.

I don't think Reid just hands anyone anything, it doesn't seem to be his MO. I would expect that Foles would start over any second round QB and Stanzi just based on past performance, but I don't think Reid would stick with him if there's a better player on the bench like ***** did.

My problem with Alex Smith is this...
His coach (who happens to be pretty good), decided he wasn't good enough, after a season and a half of decent play, and, for all intents and purposes, benched him.

Another way to look at it is:

Harbaugh inherited a good Acura which he tuned up and drove. But before he could be sure of the Acura's performance he bought himself a Cadillac and kept it in the garage. When the Acura had an accident he fired up the Cadi and drove it. Having experienced driving the Cadi he now won't drive the Acura. The Acura is still a high end Honda, but not quite a Cadillac. That's all. I would buy an underpriced Acura in a scenario like that in a heartbeat.

Harbaugh inherited a good Acura which he tuned up and drove. But before he could be sure of the Acura's performance he bought himself a Cadillac and kept it in the garage. When the Acura had an accident he fired up the Cadi and drove it. Having experienced driving the Cadi he now won't drive the Acura. The Acura is still a high end Honda, but not quite a Cadillac. That's all. I would buy an underpriced Acura in a scenario like that in a heartbeat.

Why would you buy an underpriced Honda when you know that, in order to get to your desired destination, you NEED the Cadillac?

Harbaugh inherited a good Acura which he tuned up and drove. But before he could be sure of the Acura's performance he bought himself a Cadillac and kept it in the garage. When the Acura had an accident he fired up the Cadi and drove it. Having experienced driving the Cadi he now won't drive the Acura. The Acura is still a high end Honda, but not quite a Cadillac. That's all. I would buy an underpriced Acura in a scenario like that in a heartbeat.

I'd rather buy a lottery ticket where I have 3 possible outcomes of getting the Caddy, getting the Acura, or getting a Volvo than settling for a sure thing Acura.

Right before he was injured, he was on a bunch of short-lists for the MVP. He had just had a run of weeks where he just kept making huge plays to swing the lead and he was getting a lot of MVP talk. AP hadn't had his massive streak yet (which started after Harvin went down) and the Broncos were just building momentum.

You forget that was at about week 8; a lot of things changed over the last 1/2 of the season. But he's absolutely right - Harvin was getting plenty of discussion for the first half MVP. He wasn't the top candidate, but he we certainly a top 10 guy.